Restricting promotions of food and drink high in fat, sugar or salt: Stakeholder engagement summaries

4. Retailer Roundtable – December 2023 – Summary of discussion

Friday 8 December 2023, 10:15-11:15

Microsoft Teams meeting

Attendees:

• Jenni Minto MSP, Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health
• Niamh O’Connor, Deputy Director, Population Health Strategy and Improvement, Scottish Government
• Scottish Government officials
• Asda
• Association of Convenience Stores (ACS)
• Boots
• Co-Op
• Iceland
• Just Eat
• Lidl
• Marks and Spencer
• Sainsburys
• Scottish Grocers’ Federation
• Scottish Retail Consortium

Summary of discussion

1. Welcome and introduction

• The Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health welcomed attendees to the meeting and provided an overview of the agenda.
• The purpose of the roundtable was to allow for focused discussion on areas of the policy which have generated significant feedback from stakeholders specifically meal deals, temporary price reduction and business exemptions.
• Briefing and question were circulated to attendees in advance to help facilitate focused discussion.

2. Meal Deals

Question:

There are different ways in which we could restrict meal deal promotions. What would be the preferred approach to targeting meal deals from a public health perspective and why?

Discussion

Attendees shared their views in response to the above questions. In the discussion attendees noted:

• Including meal deals within scope raised potential challenges in consistent implementation across industry. This included an unlevel playing field compared to the hospitality sector, and possible disadvantages for smaller businesses unable to provide the same value to customers.
• Meal deals should be seen less as a cause of overconsumption and more as an affordable and convenient option providing choices to consumers, including healthy options.
• Evening meal deals are often portion controlled, and are likely to be lower in calories than less healthy takeaways.

3. Temporary Price Reductions (TPRs):

Questions:

• What are your views on the public health impacts/benefits (including unintended consequences) of: i) targeting TPRs; and ii) not targeting TPRs
• We welcome any evidence stakeholder may be able to share that could contribute to the evidence base on TPRs?

Discussion

Attendees shared their views in response to the above questions. In the discussion attendees noted:

• TPRs are important competitive tools that differentiate stores and provide value to customers, especially with recent inflation and cost of living pressures.
• TPRs are not solely aimed at promoting High Fat, Sugar, and Salt (HFSS) foods but are used across a range of goods and aid in managing stock, reducing waste, and responding to shifting consumer demands.
• For larger stores, TPRs are available UK-wide regardless of size or location. Restriction of TPRs in Scotland may disproportionately impact stores in rural communities and result in increased costs for consumers.
• Implementing and enforcing restrictions on TPRs pose significant challenges due to their temporary nature and diverse product range.
• TPRs are often used to promote local, Scottish SMEs produce and support their competition with larger brands.
• Regulation would not be subject to sufficient scrutiny given the impacts that proposals to include TPRs would have both on consumers and business. Some attendees raised the appropriateness of restricting TPRs during a cost of living crisis.

4. Business exemptions

Questions:

• Based on your knowledge and experience, how will the public health benefits of the policy be impacted if smaller businesses are exempt from: i) location restrictions? ii) price and location restrictions?
• Based on your knowledge and experience what would the impact on disadvantaged groups be if smaller businesses are exempt from: i) location restrictions? ii) price and location restrictions?

Discussion

Attendees shared their views in response to the above questions. In the discussion attendees noted:

• Specialists stores, for example chocolatiers, should be permitted to sell chocolate (which would likely be subject to restriction) at front of store as it is the good they are in the market to sell.
• There was a call for the convenience store threshold to be increased from 2000sqft to 3000sqft.
• Symbol Groups are different to franchises due to their independent ownership, and should not be treated as a franchise for convenience stores.
• Any restrictions for small businesses should align with ongoing Scottish Government initiatives related to alcohol policies and deposit return schemes to ensure coherence across policies.
• Guidance on restrictions needs to be timely, inclusive of business input, and avoid complexity in implementation, learning from previous delays in England's approach.

5. Closing remarks

• The Minister thanked attendees for their valuable contributions, welcoming additional written representations to officials by Wednesday 13 December. In addition attendees were invited to contact officials should they wish to meet on a one to one basis to discuss any further aspect of this policy.
• The Minister noted the roundtable session is the next step in an extensive consultation process and responses would be fed into a suite of impact assessment as well as to further inform our forthcoming consultation on the detail of proposed regulations.